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  • CSC pays $190M to settle 4-year-old accounting fraud case with SEC

    IT services company CSC will pay US$190 million to settle a case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over four-year-old charges that it violated U.S. antifraud, reporting, and books-and-records laws. The company did not admit guilt, but has promised not to violate those laws in future.

  • Cloud SLAs 'fall short,' says user advocacy group

    Service level agreements in the cloud computing market are skewed in the favor of providers, can be difficult for customers to decipher and in some cases are rigid and non-negotiable. Those are some of the findings from the Cloud Standards Customer Council, a user advocacy group that recently reviewed SLAs from some of the industry’s largest providers.

  • CSC finalises iSoft acquisition

    CSC has closed the acquisition of iSoft Group, one of the world’s largest providers of advanced healthcare IT solutions.

  • Australian Court clears iSoft sale

    Health IT company iSoft has received court approval to sell itself to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) Australia for A$188 million, or $0.17 per share.
    iSoft shareholders on Friday approved the takeover offer, which had been endorsed by directors in April.
    The takeover will now be implemented on or around July 29, iSOFT has announced.
    The deal has now passed all the stages required to proceed. While former iSOFT CEO Gary Cohen had unsuccessfully attempted to delay the sale and hold out for a better offer, the board had proclaimed that there was no superior proposal on the table.
    Cohen had resigned in August last year after the company swung to a deep loss.
    The offer also recently won the required approvals from regulators.
    iSoft shares fell 2.94% in Monday's trading to $0.165.
    Most District Health Boards in New Zealand are iSoft customers.
    - Additional reporting by David Watson

  • Ex-iSoft CEO's case against sale thrown out by NSW Supreme Court

    Former iSoft chief executive Gary Cohen’s attempts to delay the medical software group’s sale to CSC have been dismissed by the New South Wales Supreme Court as without foundation, enabling the sale to go ahead.
    iSoft stakeholder Ocean Capital announced in an ASX statement this week that the case brought against it by Cohen’s family company RJL Investments was dismissed on Friday 20 May.
    Cohen, who led the company for a decade until resigning in the face of drastically falling revenues last year, had filed for litigation against Ocean Capital last month.
    At the time, the company claimed Ocean Capital was required to give four weeks’ notice to Cohen before it could sell 15 per cent of its 24 per cent stake in the company as part of a pre-emption deed acquired by Cohen during negotiations in 2007.
    However, the NSW Supreme Court found CSC’s proposed acquisition, reportedly worth $180 million, did not fall under the provisions of Cohen’s ability to pre-empt the sale. Ocean Capital reaffirmed in the ASX statement that it was open to bids superior to CSC’s current standing offer of 17c per share.
    “We remain free to deal with our shares in iSoft at any time,” the company stated.
    It is unknown whether RJL Investments will appeal the decision.
    The sale would provide CSC with 3300 iSoft employees and access to the 13,000 healthcare providers in 40 countries currently using the company’s e-health products, when the deal is finalised by the end of CSC’s second quarter in September this year.
    iSoft will be delisted from the ASX as part of the deal, though CSC is yet to confirm whether it will retain the brand or assimilate contracts and products under the wider CSC umbrella.
    CSC has committed to continuing internal transition programs outlined by iSoft over the past few years to eliminate cash burn, but is yet to confirm whether any further reductions in headcount will be made among iSoft staff. The provider had already flagged plans to lay off 800 staff or 17 per cent of its original workforce of 4500.
    Cohen resigned in September last year following $383 million statutory loss in the 2009-2010 fiscal period. He was replaced at the time by chief operating officer, Andrea Fiumicelli.
    Most District Health Boards in New Zealand are iSoft customers.
    - Additional reporting by David Watson

  • City of Los Angeles may sue over delays in Google Apps project: report

    Google on Thursday downplayed a report that the city of Los Angeles may file a lawsuit against it due to delays in implementing a much touted US$7.2 million contract to replace Novell GroupWise applications with the Google Apps for Government hosted email and office applications platform.

  • iSoft R&D division a key attraction for CSC: exec

    CSC Australia’s director of health services this week pinpointed the research and development portfolio of ailing e-health provider iSoft as a key attraction of the company’s $US188 million takeover bid.
    In a teleconference to media following the proposal announcement, CSC Australia’s director of health services, Lisa Pettigrew, said the buyout proposal looked primarily to the company’s research and development program. This included the research and development staff in particular, as well as the 200 consulting clinicians iSoft currently claims.
    Pettigrew said the iSoft buy would also provide CSC access to New Zealand as a new e-health arena, as well as a number of acquisitions made by the provider recently including UltraGenda, Patient Safety International and BridgeForward.
    Most of New Zealand's district health boards are iSoft customers.
    “We know this company really well and we’ve run the ruler over it a number of times; you don’t enter a transaction of this size and complexity without looking at all of its elements,” she said.
    The California-based parent company of CSC Australia confirmed buyout talks with iSoft over the weekend, offering 17c Australian per share and ending a week-long freeze on iSoft shares pending completion of takeover talks. The bid values the company beyond the 5.2c per share at which it traded prior to suspending trade on the ASX.
    iSoft shareholders will vote on the deal in May following unanimous approval from the company board, with CSC expecting to complete integration of the company and its 3300 employees by the end of its second quarter in September. iSoft will be delisted from the ASX as part of the deal, though CSC is yet to confirm whether it will retain the brand or assimilate contracts and products under the wider CSC umbrella.
    CSC has committed to continuing internal transition programmes outlined by iSoft over the past few years to eliminate cash burn, but is yet to confirm whether any further reductions in headcount will be made among iSoft staff. The provider had already flagged plans to lay off 800 staff or 17 per cent of its original workforce of 4500.
    The company is yet to speak to iSoft clients about the deal.
    According to CSC, the offer is part of a wider play on the e-health market, including a move on the 13,000 healthcare providers in 40 countries currently using iSoft products.
    “The combination of these companies will further establish CSC as an innovative leader in global healthcare IT,” CSC chairman and chief executive, Michael W Laphen, said in a statement at the weekend.
    The buyout proposal follows a run of increasingly bad news from the company. In February, it reported an $84.1 million net loss in the first half of the 2011 financial year due to restructuring costs and impairment charges. The company, which had made a $4.8 million profit in 1H10, spent the most recent half attempting to restore the financial health of the business.
    In December it began selling off parts of its business to pay down its debts. The first to go was its financial management solutions unit, iSoft Business Solutions (iBS), to Capita Group PLC.
    Earlier in the month it appointed acting chief executive, Andrea Fiumicelli, as its new permanent CEO. Fiumicelli was named acting CEO in September, following the resignation of Gary Cohen from the position.
    However, Cohen is known to retain a substantial holding in the company, with speculation he could try to block the buyout.
    - Additional repoting by David Watson

  • CSC buyout of iSoft confirmed

    Services giant CSC is to acquire health software maker iSoft, following a period of speculation and rumour and the halting of trading of iSoft shares on the Australian Securities Exchange last week.

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